


Stardew drabbles for the universe I'm making in my head

by CeBo01



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Adding tags as I go along, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Multi, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Sam being the best, Swearing, and characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26568046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeBo01/pseuds/CeBo01
Summary: I have a bigger fic planned that does some deep-dives into relationships but whilst I struggle to write that these keep popping into my head so here have them 👐
Relationships: Alex & Dusty (Stardew Valley), Penny & Sam (Stardew Valley), Sam & Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Kudos: 3





	1. Sam & Penny: First meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Penny meeting 😙

The first time Sam saw her she was walking home from the library. She carried 3 heavy looking books in her arms that were clenched tightly to her chest. Her head was facing down, her choppy fringe falling over her eyes meaning she didn’t see Sam in time before she walked into him. To be fair, he had only had eyes on his phone, so it was his fault as well (or maybe his mum’s as she wanted him to go to the library to get a new book for Vincent in the first place).

Her head collided with his chin causing his lower teeth to jam into his lip.  
_Fucking ow_.

She also lost her grip on her books, the three tomb like things crashing onto his feet.  
**_Fucking ow_**.

Sam stumbled back bringing a hand up to his stinging lip and bouncing around slightly to try and alleviate the pain in his feet.

“Ow, fucking shit ow, ow, ow.”

The girl had frozen, head still lowered as she stared down at where her books had fallen.  
Sam took a few more seconds swearing out his pain before he shook his feet out and worked on sucking his lower lip to fend off the blood.

“Hey, you good?” He asked her as he kneeled down to start picking up the books.

“You know, I haven’t actually gotten to know you yet, but I see you a lot at the library. You’re always reading those old looking books which I can never understand. Anyway I’m Sam and I moved here two seasons ago with my brother. He’s still tiny but mum insists we read something different to him every week to help him grow, but this library is so small we’re going to run out of… Hey? You alright?”

He’d collected the books by now and was standing in front of the girl again before realising she still hadn’t moved.

He tried calling out to her once more but she _still_ didn’t respond.

Cautiously he reached a hand out and shook her shoulder slightly to try and get a response.

In an instant she was active again, she jerked back from his touch before running away, the opposite direction to the library.

“Hey you forgot your books!” Sam shouted, starting to jog after her. The raised voice seemed only to incentivise her more as she moved from running to full on sprinting around the side of the Mayor’s house.

Sam stood on the bridge over the river debating whether to run after her or continue his journey to the library. He’d had a few friends who’d acted like that in Zuzu. He knew that if someone ran off like that, they didn't want to be followed.

Sighing, he hefted the books up higher in his arms and made his way back to the library.  
Maybe if he explained well enough the silent librarian would hold onto them for her?

\--

She always seemed to catch his eye from then on. Though it wasn’t hard to do that beforehand. Her hair was a similar colour to that of his brothers and he always had to glance over whenever it caught his eye, just to make sure his brother wasn’t running off again.

She always kept to herself. Never taking an active part in any of the festivals and choosing to sit under that big tree near the village square rather than playing games with any of the other kids. Not that there were many.

Sam had asked Sebastian about her once, he hadn’t been a fountain of knowledge but Sam still got her name out of him.

Penny.

\--

She was under that tree again. Sat crossed legged with her purple book propped up on her knees.

Sam had lived in Pelican Town a full 4 seasons now and had never seen her reading a different book under that tree. She was there most days, even during the school hours when Sam was meant to be on his computer completing the classes his far-reach programme from Zuzu asked him to do.  
He knew that Seb was doing a similar thing, there was no other option, what with the bus having broken down before Sam and his family had even moved into town meaning that the link to the closest school in Grampleton had to be canceled.

Come to think of it, Seb had mentioned her mum used to be the bus driver.

\--

It was the next Thursday that he got the chance to go and talk to her.

He had been meaning to since the beginning of the fall season, but his mum had been going out more and more to meet with her new friend Caroline, which resulted in Sam having to stay in and watch after Vincent.

However, that morning his mum had left him with a kiss on his forehead and Vincent in her arms saying that she was taking him to have a day at the beach before it gets too cold and to “make sure you please finish your classes Sam, I don’t need another call from them”.

And he had meant to.

He really had but it was chemistry and he was shit at it and he just happened to remember his idea at the exact same time and really he just had to go right now ‘cus what if he _missed_ her and he’d have to wait a whole _other season_ before he was able to get the free (ish) time again.

So instead he grabbed his favourite blue jacket, sat his dad’s old blue baseball cap on his head and rushed out the house to try and catch her under the tree. He got three steps out the door before remembering that Granny Evelyn had given them some cookies the other day, saying she had made too much in preparation for her grandson coming round, and who didn’t like cookies?

So with that thought in mind he rushed back inside, scraped a chair across the floor so he could reach the top shelf and grabbed the small box of cookies (he’d made a promise to Seb that he’d share some with him so he’d need to remember not to eat them all with Penny).

He rushed back out the door and all the way to the tree.

The cookies were a hit.

He forgot to save some for Seb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't meant to be romantic, like I don't ship them at all really but it feels slightly like it's turned out that way?  
> Idk I'm probably reading too much into my own writing :/  
> Oh well, later chapter will defo show they are not an item so you have that to look forward to if you're sticking around ^^  
> Also learning that Alex moved into Pelican Town 12 yrs before the start of the game has just massively messed up the ages in my main fic so ahhhhhhhh  
> I hope you're all well and safe :)


	2. Alex & Dusty: Drowning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex's move to Pelican Town.  
> TW: Past child abuse

No one here likes him.

...

Well grandpa does.

Grandma cries nearly every time she looks at him. 

It’s his eyes.

He used to like his eyes, not too many people he knew had green eyes like him.

Like mum.

They used to make him happy.

Now they just make Grandma cry.

\--

They try to get him to play with the others, but they’re all so _old_.

Well the boys are at least.

And they don’t like football.

And Alex can’t play football with a _girl_.

(With just the thought in his mind he could feel his father looming behind him, the sour stench of drink starting to choke him, the silence dragging him down. 

The smell means the shouting will start soon. 

It always does.

No, he couldn’t play with a _girl_.)

\--

There isn’t a football pitch here.

He’s tried to make it work, he really _really_ has. But the beach’s sand is so loose that it gets in his eyes, not to mention the massive shells and oysters that just _show up_ every few days, just to make him trip.

Even the ocean doesn’t like him.

(That’s alright, the ocean’s scary anyway.)

The forest is covered in weeds and rocks and branches and he almost lost his ball in the river once. 

The two boys had been there at that time too.

Now they probably doubly didn’t like him.

\--

He _hates_ online school.

He hates it, hates it, hates it.

He can’t make friends (he didn’t have any friends back home), the classes are boring and too hard (but he won’t be laughed at for not knowing the answer here), and he can’t take sports (they hadn’t let him on the team back home, he was hoping he could have joined one here, then people would _like_ him and the monster would go away).

He hates it, hates it, _hates it._

\--

They chain Dusty up.

They leave him outside in the kennel.

Even when it rains.

Dusty doesn’t like the rain.

He hates it, hates it, _hates it_ too.

But he jumps and he made grandma fall and hurt her hip so now he’s outside.

And Alex _misses_ him.

(Dad always stayed home when it rained)

\--

He can’t sleep.

He’s tried. He really has but he can’t. 

(Not with the monster still in his head)

And he’s so _tired_.

(Dusty jumped so now Dusty has to stay outside and can’t sleep with him to keep the monster away)

\--

It takes a while but he adjusts.

Mostly.

He watches the games on the telly instead of watching from the tall tree outside the stadium.

(Or on the radio curled up with Dusty in the wardrobe as dad shouts and shouts and _shouts._ )

He started playing catch with Abi when they’re both out in town and Grandma’s watching.

(Dad is looming and staring and just _waiting to grab him again oh Yoba_ )

He stands by Dusty’s pen to make the time pass.

(He’s not _out he can’t protect him from the monster please Dusty_ **_Dusty_ **)

He doesn’t look Grandma in the eye anymore.

  
( _He’s drowning)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is it that when I come up with an idea and start to write it my brain takes a whole-ass U-turn and goes in completely the opposite direction and just makes everything so angsty? Like this was meant to be fluff with a little angst peppered in but nooooo now I just want to wrap Alex in a blanket and feed him cookies.  
> And omg the amount of itallics used in this chapter bloomin heck, just, why???  
> Oh well.  
> Hope you enjoyed it anyway and are keeping healthy and safe :)
> 
> (Also I imagine Seb and Sam being like 2-3 yrs older than Alex which, at the age Alex is in this drabble [like between 9 and 11], could be a decades difference for all they care)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed ^^  
> Again all these are set in the Stardew Valley universe, I've just expanded on it in my head for my main fic that probably won't be out for ages yet. I'll make a proper series when I think of a name for it 🙃  
> 


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